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Madras and Tonic book Club: The Town

If there’s anyone who is always looking for a great book, it’s definitely me. I’d started a few novels this summer but couldn’t get through them (I say, give it at least til 100 pages and if you’re not hooked by then, forget it). Before I left for Boston, I came across the book “Prince of Thieves” a.k.a. “The Town” by Chuck Hogan, and have to say, I can’t put it down.

From Booklist: ” In this moody, resonant thriller that cleverly begins and ends in the same place. Doug, Dez, Jem, and Gloansy have been tight since childhood, growing up tough and street-smart in a rough, working-class Irish enclave where “bringing home the bacon” means stealing it from a local bank. Like his father, Doug is a thief, planning ever more sophisticated gigs for his buddies–as much for the high as for the money. The local bank should have been a piece of cake, but Doug’s falling in love with bank manager Claire Keesey wasn’t part of the plan. Nor did Doug expect a romantic adversary in the person of robbery investigator Adam Frawley. It’s not entirely clear why both men fall for Claire, who’s barely on stage. But there’s no doubt about Hogan’s ability to blend weighty emotions with riveting shoot-outs as he depicts a complicated man, noble and villainous by turns, trapped in a life he desperately wants to change.”

I was pretty excited to read that Ben Affleck recently directs and stars in “The Town” set in Charlestown, Massachusetts (Charlestown has the highest rate of armored car bank robberies per capita in the entire country). Affleck has proved to be a better director than he is actor (he made his directorial debut with “Gone Baby Gone”) so this is definitely on my list of must see movies this fall.

If you like the cat and mouse thrillers as well as the movie “The Departed” with Leo DiCaprio, this is a good one to pick up.